Weather and Traffic

Massive tree sails down Intracoastal to new home at Bradley Park

A Green Buttonwood tree is floated south down the intracoastal waterway by the Sean Jacobus Company that removed it from property at 446 N Lake Way on October 12, 2017. The tree is being relocated to the renovated Bradley Park near Royal Poinciana Way. (Richard Graulich / Daily News)

Posted: 8:00 a.m. Saturday, October 14, 2017

On a normal day, the view from Palm Beach’s Lake Trail consists of yachts, speedboats and sailboats, but this week, walkers and runners on the trail saw something unusual floating down the Intracoastal Waterway: an estimated 200-year-old tree strapped to a barge.

The 42,000-pound green buttonwood tree was headed to a new home in Bradley Park after being donated to the town by Stephen A. Levin, the owner of the North Lake Way property where the tree previously sat.

Tall and twisted, the tree stretches 35 feet high and 50 feet across — appearing too big for the barge it rode on.

“It’s a gnarly wizard tree,” said Sean Jacobus, who founded the company handling the move. “It looks like Merlin was born and raised in this tree.”

It was the third attempt in about four weeks to move the tree after delays from Hurricane Irma, king tides and recent downpours. Most recently, the dense tree proved too heavy for the hired crane and a larger one had to be brought in.

On Thursday, a half-dozen men worked with the enormous crane through a downpour and scorching heat before moving it.

Sean Jacobus Company site worker Richard Byrd prepares a green buttonwood tree for a barge ride south down the intracoastal waterway, after it was removed from property at 446 N Lake Way on October 12, 2017. The tree is being relocated to the renovated Bradley Park near Royal Poinciana Way. (Richard Graulich / Daily News)

Sean Jacobus Company site worker Richard Byrd prepares a green buttonwood tree for a barge ride south down the intracoastal waterway, ... read more

Jacobus, who has been moving trees in Florida for 40 years, says he never moves a tree before it’s ready.

“We’re bonded,” Jacobus said. “This tree is going to make it and I’m going to make sure it’s going to make it.”

Jacobus, who said in all his years has never seen a tree as magnificent as this one, has stopped by about once a week to water the tree and prepare the roots for transplant for the last six months, he said.

After the tree was lifted and placed on the barge, a worker drove the barge about a mile south to Bradley Park, where a hole was already prepared along with soil made specially for the tree. Once placed, the tree was positioned with the same alignment toward the sun that it had in its original location.

“I make sure my trees are happy when they go in,” Jacobus said.

The town is preserving the tree, which has orchids growing throughout its branches, because of its age and because it is a “unique specimen,” said Amanda Skier, executive director of the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach. It originally sat on part of the Phipps estate, adjacent to the boat house where the family’s Piper pontoon plane was kept, making the tree even more historic, she said.

Levin agreed to pay the estimated $50,000 moving expense and five years of maintenance, which the town estimates will be $2,000 per year.

The massive tree now sits in the northwest corner of Bradley Park. The tree and the entire park, which is undergoing a $2.7 million beautification project, will be available for visits after the Dec. 12 ribbon cutting ceremony.

The tree will be staked and its roots stimulated to help assimilate it to its new resting spot, but the green buttonwood is already host to a variety of birds, which greeted Jacobus at sunrise the day after the move.

Popular in News

1

2

3

Reader Comments
...

Next Up in Local News

Most interior designers don’t begin a project by picking a name at random. But the method presented an interesting challenge for the eight designers exhibiting in “Art & Decor” at the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County in Lake Worth. West Palm Beach interior designer Gil Walsh, a member of the council’s board, selected...

A proposal to demolish and rebuild Duck’s Nest, a historic Palm Beach home, was postponed another month by the Landmarks Preservation Commission on Wednesday. The proposal to reconstruct Duck’s Nest, the second-oldest home in Palm Beach, was originally brought before the commission in December. The decision was put on hold after a commission...

The line reached 50 people before 10 a.m. had arrived, so Hoda Kotb started early. She spoke with each person patiently waiting to meet her, each holding her book in their hands, talking and laughing with them for about two hours. “(Palm Beach) feels partly like home to me,” Kotb said. “So coming here for a book signing was the most...

An investment group that includes an owner of the still-unfinished Palm House hotel-condominium on Royal Palm Way is preparing to make an offer soon to buy the beleaguered development, an attorney has told the Daily News. “We’re hoping that we will have a viable purchase offer” by the end of the month, C. Brooks Ricca, of...

Tuesday’s Town Council meeting will mark a changing of the guard with newly elected member Lew Crampton taking the seat held by Richard Kleid, who is retiring after 13 years on the board. The council also will elect a chairperson to preside over meetings during the coming year. First, the council must adopt a resolution formally declaring the...